Biking for Beginners

My bike arrived on Wednesday and I was excited! This is it! I wanted to ride it right away and planned to not quit until I could ride it well.

 

I underestimated how difficult it was. I practiced at our patio but it was not big enough. I’d pedal then hit the break prematurely because I didn’t want to crash on our railings. Our patio is about 200 sq feet and it was not enough space to ride in momentum. I struggled with my balance. I was scared of crashing, falling or getting hurt.

 

I wanted the seat lower so I do not have to tiptoe. D was hesitant but he adjusted the seat down for me but not too much. He said it will give me knee pain. After 5 minutes in the patio, we moved to the open parking lot in my building. Twice, we stopped because there were people parking. I was embarassed that someone would see me struggling.  Though there are cars parked, it was wide enough to manuever and it was slightly slanted. It gave me a chance to practice with more speed but I struggled with the uphill because I was knock-kneed. I also struggled doing turns. I am scared of falling down because I angle the handle bars to much when I needed to turn. There were few times when I jumped off the bike instead of hitting the brakes. It was an instinct but I got scratched at the back of my leg from the pedal. Ugh. Cannot really avoid pain.

 

After about 20 minutes of trying (and D taking his turn on riding the bike), I was able to do a full loop of the parking lot without stopping. I felt accomplished! I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! D took a video and I laughed  watching how wiggly my upper body was. He said I was too tensed. Of course I am! It is after all my first time to ride a bike again after almost 29 years. The fear is real when you learn to ride as an adult.

 

I tried to google tips on how I can stop my upper body from wiggling. Alas, no tips.  I need to relax more. Maybe I need more space. I have to keep practicing to get better. (If I find something helpful, I will share. For the benefit of adults like me, who is just learning how to ride a bike).

 

My helmet came today and putting it on made me feel confident. I am planning to practice on a wider space early tomorrow morning so there are less cars and less eyes watching.

 

Hopefully, before my birthday, I will be biking confidently on a bike lane or better, to work.

 

Wish me luck!

 

~ by alayv on June 12, 2020.